Possum’s Pollytics reports tonight that Andrew Leigh has won the ALP pre-selection for the seat of Fraser (the northernmost of the ACT’s two House of Representatives divisions), replacing the retiring Bob McMullan (the Crimes also has the story). After the bit of argy-bargy reported earlier in the week, it seems like a quality candidate has won through, against the supposed factional machinations.

At any rate, I’ve been reading Andrew’s work on Core Economics for a while now (where he blogs on a variety of subjects alongside several other economic luminaries), and having someone with a strong belief in empirical evidence involved in the national debate has got to be a good thing. His pre-selection will certainly make me reconsider my voting intentions in the House.

For me, one of the most interesting things about Leigh’s preselection is that he’s someone that has published fairly widely, so we’re able to get much more of an insight into his opinions and ability than is often the case with candidates for Parliament. If you’re interested, you can access many of his academic papers, opinion pieces and recorded spots on the ABC’s Wryside Economics at his site, unfiltered by the ALP promotional machine. There’s also his personal blog.

It is interesting that this victory is being painted as a win for independents. Gai Brotman is a member of the Centre Coalition and Andrew Leigh was anointed by John Hargreaves. Let’s wait and see where it all leads. What it demonstrates is that if you want to see haters then look to the independents in Fraser who do a good imitation of “hating as one”. Nick Martin was overwhelmingly the first choice for almost half the voters but only three of the nearly one hundred preferences went to him. Why? Because he was from a faction, not because he was from the left because the same thing happened to George Williams. This is merely a victory for what one person called the bigots among us. There will be some interesting outcomes from this over the next few months and years. Just don’t act surprised when it happens.

I must disagree. Two powerful factions tried to do a deal to get up two particular people. A larger number of people – indeed, a majority – believed that two other people were better candidates, and chose them. Welcome to democracy.

It is interesting that this victory is being painted as a win for independents. Gai Brotman is a member of the Centre Coalition and Andrew Leigh was anointed by John Hargreaves. Let’s wait and see where it all leads. What it demonstrates is that if you want to see haters then look to the independents in Fraser who do a good imitation of “hating as one”. Nick Martin was overwhelmingly the first choice for almost half the voters but only three of the nearly one hundred preferences went to him. Why? Because he was from a faction, not because he was from the left because the same thing happened to George Williams. This is merely a victory for what one person called the bigots among us. There will be some interesting outcomes from this over the next few months and years. Just don’t act surprised when it happens.

I’m guessing it’ll be the usual story of dreams vs reality here. They’ll both be all full of ideas and wanting to change things for the better for the ACT; but once installed in Parliament House they’ll be told to “sit down, do what you’re told, don’t rock the boat and shut-the-f#ck up” from the party factional boys and girls.

On the other hand, neither of them are idiots or politically naive, so it’s reasonable to assume that they know what they’re getting into and have some plans to work within the system.

While I congratulate both winners on being selected, does anyone really believe either of them will be able to make much of a difference in Federal Labor?

I’m guessing it’ll be the usual story of dreams vs reality here. They’ll both be all full of ideas and wanting to change things for the better for the ACT; but once installed in Parliament House they’ll be told to “sit down, do what you’re told, don’t rock the boat and shut-the-f#ck up” from the party factional boys and girls.

Good raw material is a heartening start, whatever we think of what lies ahead for them.

On Topic. Interesting outcomes, Andrew Leigh has a lot of respect, but no doubt the usual suspects will be out to claim the the ANU and ABC are the places of “Teh Left”

Um yeah well… my friends say I’m unusual. But when we see people associated with particular organisations repeatedly winning preselection with certain political parties, we think “pattern” and “evidence-based policy”.

I double-dare Chris Uhlmann to ask “ANU’s Kevin Rudd” if there is a quota for ex-ABC preselections before each Federal election.

I’m pretty sure Andrew Bolt will cast his hat in the ring at some point. If that happens we’re gonna have *so much* fun with posts about the ALP reign at Aunty being OVER now that “Insider’s Andrew Bolt” has done a Maxine McKew.

Gai Brodtmann, to my knowledge, doesn’t work for either the ABC or the ANU. Chris Uhlmann, according to last weeks’s Oz has left his 7.30 Report role to do something at the new 24h ABC News channel. And in any event, Uhlmann always seemed pretty conservative to me. By the way, there’ve been a few ex-ABC staff who went on to be Liberal politicians – Gary Hargrave comes to mind.

While I congratulate both winners on being selected, does anyone really believe either of them will be able to make much of a difference in Federal Labor?

I’m guessing it’ll be the usual story of dreams vs reality here. They’ll both be all full of ideas and wanting to change things for the better for the ACT; but once installed in Parliament House they’ll be told to “sit down, do what you’re told, don’t rock the boat and shut-the-f#ck up” from the party factional boys and girls.

sexynotsmart, coincidence does not a correlation make. Possibly those attracted to the ANU or the ABC might also be attracted to running for ALP pre-selection, it’s not universally true though. I’m sure there are those of many political and social views working for both organisations.

Chris Uhlmann appears to be anything but a fan of Rudd so he might be tempted to ask really difficult questions but I suspect yours won’t be it.

On Topic. Interesting outcomes, Andrew Leigh has a lot of respect, but no doubt the usual suspects will be out to claim the the ANU and ABC are the places of “Teh Left”

Um yeah well… my friends say I’m unusual. But when we see people associated with particular organisations repeatedly winning preselection with certain political parties, we think “pattern” and “evidence-based policy”.

I double-dare Chris Uhlmann to ask “ANU’s Kevin Rudd” if there is a quota for ex-ABC preselections before each Federal election.

I’m pretty sure Andrew Bolt will cast his hat in the ring at some point. If that happens we’re gonna have *so much* fun with posts about the ALP reign at Aunty being OVER now that “Insider’s Andrew Bolt” has done a Maxine McKew.

On the basis of his academic work Andrew Leigh is an excellent catch for the ALP and should be ministerial material. I’m not sure why he wants to be a politician, but he’ll increase the average IQ of parliament by rather a lot.

Amendments to give renters more rights have passed the Legislative Assembly. It will be easier for renters to keep a pet, make minor modifications to their rental property, and to break a lease without incurring significant costs https://t.co/UG9YEv9ilQ(7 hours ago)